Truth or Dare
by JennyLD
Summary: Faced with one of the oldest tropes in the book the dreaded trapped together cliche' , Spike and Willow try to make the best of things.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, just playing in the sandbox.**  
Author's Note: **First Spillow fic. Ready for the list? Thanks to Ladychi and Shannon730 for the beta, Wendymr for the Britspeak help, Mitashade for giving me the thumbs up, Velvetwhip for holding my hand while posting, and Amy for listening to me go on and on about this fic for months now. Me, nervous much? Nah!

Willow woke up feeling out of sorts.

Not yet fully awake, her mind still groggy with sleep, she didn't have the energy to open her eyes. Wasn't quite motivated enough to get up and get the day started.

What she needed was a nice, strong cup of Joe.

Wondering just who 'Joe' was and why he would forever be synonymous with coffee, she stretched out her decidedly stiff body--_probably from patrolling with Buffy_--and frowned. Something wasn't right here. Something felt wrong and...just plain _not_ right. But she wasn't quite sure what. In fact, she wasn't really sure of much of anything at all.

Racking her brain, Willow tried to think, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't remember what day it was or what she'd been doing before she fell asleep. Her memories were too thin and wispy, like cotton candy--_pink,_ _not blue; the blue stuff wasn't nearly as good as the pink_--and she wasn't even entirely sure of where she was, or how she'd got there.

Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she became fairly certain of one thing; she wasn't in her bedroom. Bedrooms didn't, as a rule, smell dank and musty, like wet ground and rotting flesh. _Then again,_ she thought, pulling herself into a sitting position, _half the residents of Sunnydale probably sleep in just such a place._

"Might not want to do that just yet," a voice mumbled from somewhere to her right just as a wave of dizziness washed over her. With the dizziness came a pounding in her head and she fell back to the ground with an oomph. "Got a bit of a bump on your noggin."

Willow waited for a few seconds, breathing deeply, letting the pain and dizziness pass before opening her eyelids one at a time. She saw stars twinkling in the dark sky above her and darker, dirt walls on either side of her. Felt cold, crumbly earth beneath her. Smelt mud and death all around.

_Nope, definitely not her bedroom._

"What happened?" she half asked, half groaned, turning her head slowly to the side and giving the indefinable, yet very familiar lump leaning against the other wall a questioning look.

"Two of us took a right bit of a tumble. Started off up there," Spike tilted his head at an angle, looking upward, "ended up down here, hanging with the creepy-crawlies."

Unfortunately, Spike's explanation hadn't helped any. Willow still couldn't remember anything, couldn't recall a single thing that would support his claims. But it wasn't like she had any reason _not_ to believe him. A few years back and she would've suspected him of some nefarious plan to lure Buffy here, under the pretense of needing to rescue her best friend, only to jump her the moment she arrived. But now...well, government-approved nice chip in place and Spike was no longer a threat.

And after all, they were _both_ presently stuck in a hole.

How that had happened was another story, however. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have blindly stepped into a pit like that. "So the ground just opened up and swallowed us whole? 'Cause I would've noticed a great big pit in the middle of the cemetery before."

"Sort of did, yeah."

Willow narrowed her eyes in his direction, suspicion beginning to niggle at the back of her mind.

"Come on, pet. Stranger things have happened in this berg. 'Sides, the ground isn't exactly what you'd call stable round here. What with all the new born vamps crawling out every night."

She couldn't really come up with an argument against that. Beside, thinking about it too much, thinking about the nasty smell surrounding her, made her feel a little sick. She scrunched up her nose, trying not to imagine all the dead bodies buried nearby. Pushed away the thought of how close some of those bodies might be to her right now, focusing instead on the outline of Spike's body, her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.

He was sitting with his back against one side of the pit, legs drawn up close to his chest, forearms resting on his knees. He looked relaxed, calm, like he didn't have a care in the world.

_Figures!_

"So what now?"

"Well, way I see it, we could dig us up some bodies, make ourselves a ladder out of their bones--"

"Eww, gross!"

"Or we could wait. Buffy's probably got her knickers all in a bunch wondering where you scampered off to." Something Willow didn't recognize, something she could barely even see from the distinct lack of light in the pit, crossed his face before he turned away from her, focusing his gaze on the wall in front of him. "Probably got a proper search party going by now." Spike paused, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly. "Looking for you that is."

She wanted to ask him what that meant, what the look she hadn't quite seen meant as well, but wasn't sure how, didn't know if he'd appreciate it. So she focused instead on sitting up -- slowly enough this time that she didn't make her head go all wonky again. Her vision spun a little, but it wasn't nearly as bad as last time, so she figured she'd probably be safe--her stomach lurched suspiciously and she quickly leaned backward until her head was resting against the wall--as long as she was leaning against a wall that is.

Taking a closer look at their surroundings, she considered the situation more closely. The sides of the pit went straight up and down, not at an angle. They looked muddy, probably from the recent rain storms they'd had, and very unstable. Which was more than likely why the ground had caved in in the first place. There was no way either of them could climb up it. Especially without any ledges or footholds in sight. Even Spike probably couldn't...

"Wait a second," she gasped, darting her gaze to him. Not a good idea in her current state but she swallowed down the nausea and continued. This was important. "Can't you just, you know?" She made an up motion with her hands, feeling a little silly in the process.

"Just what?"

"Jump."

He stared at her with a look similar to the one Giles gave her sometimes when she'd said something particularly stupid. "That's damn near twenty-five feet up."

"Yeah, but, I thought you could--that is, I thought vampires could jump really high and all. Like amazingly high. As high as Buffy. Or higher. And she's jumped pretty high before." She paused for breath then continued, "I've watched her."

"We can. But small buildings in a single bound?" He chuckled, turning back to face the dirt wall in front of him. "Not bloody likely."

Willow hmphed and leaned back. He hadn't had to laugh at her like that. "It's not like I know how far vampires can jump, you know. I'm no vampire expert, not like Buffy and Giles anyway. They're the ones that are _supposed_ to know everything there is to know about vampires, not me."

"Sorry, luv," Spike continued, still chuckling at her expense. "Nothing to do but wait."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Just playing in the sandbox**  
Summary: **Faced with one of the oldest tropes in the book (the dreaded trapped together cliche'), Spike and Willow try to make the best of things.  
**Author's Note: **Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Christmas and all it's accompanying insanity sort of slowed me down. Thanks to Ladychi and Shannon for the betas, and Rachelbeann and Velvetwhip for holding my hand. (The list has shortened!)

* * *

"We could play charades!"

"No."

There was a pause; a brief moment of bloody quiet before she started in again.

"How about I spy?" Willow's voice rose excitedly. "I spy, with my little eye--"

"Something dirty and muddy and filled with death," Spike interrupted, his patience wearing thin. "Oh, I know! Is it a pit?"

"Fine," she grumbled, turning her body away from him. "You don't always have to be so mean, ya know."

Now that was rich; him not being mean. Did she forget who she was talking to? "Vampire, love. We're not exactly known for giving warm fuzzies and rescuing kittens."

There was a pause, another moment of quiet, and Spike had just about figured she'd given up when she spoke again, her voice quieter this time.

_Gentler?_

"I don't believe you." She gave him a funny look, then started scooting across the cold, wet dirt towards him. Didn't stop until her back was up against the same wall as his, only a few inches of bare ground between them. "There's something different about you. Something a little less with the big and the bad and the evil."

"Chipped, me." Ignoring the heat of her body just _there_, he tapped the side of his head with his fingertips. " 'Member?"

"Yeah but, I've seen you do nice things before. Helped us save the world a few times, even." She gave him that look again, the one that he was beginning to think bordered on sympathy...kindness. The whole bloody conversation was getting a bit too touchy-feely for him all of a sudden.

And the way she was practically bumping shoulders with him, the way her eyes had softened around the corners just now...it was sick and wrong, is what it was.

The way she seemed to trust him?

'_Course no reason for her not to, what with the free neutering courtesy of the Initiative gits._

"Gotta get my rocks off somehow." Spike grinned, waiting for a reaction. She didn't disappoint; the look on her face was priceless. And did a lot for ignoring the way her new position was starting to make him feel. "Fightin's fighting, whether you're pummeling a vamp or a human. All the same to me. Still feels good, gets the heart pumping, the blood flowing."

Willow stared at him for a bit, like she was trying to figure something out. Trying to figure him out. Then the corners of her lips curved up and she bumped her shoulder playfully against his, making him think all sorts of inappropriate thoughts.

It'd definitely been too long since he'd had a quick slap and tickle if he was considering shagging the little witch.

"Not fooling me, Spike. I can see the real you. Underneath all the fangs and the "Oooo, scary face," is a big old teddy bear just waiting to come out."

Punctuating her sentence with a smile, she leaned back against the dirt wall, turning her attention on the night sky above them, away from him. And that was the end of that conversation.

Not like he wanted to continue it anymore anyway.

* * *

Spike was bored. Stuck in a pit with Miss let's-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya over there and nothing to maim or kill, no telly to watch, had him chomping at the bit, ready to claw out his own eyes for something to do. Or better yet, impale himself on a pointy stick.

But he had an idea.

Leaning to the left a little, letting his lips brush briefly through Willow's hair, he whispered, "Truth or dare?"

He had to hand it to her, she barely even jumped. But she did squeal quite nicely. "What?"

Mission accomplished, he pulled away, resuming his original position just this side of not touching her. "Your idea, pet." He shrugged like it didn't really matter to him any, like he was just doing her a favor. "Pass the time right quick while waiting on your Slayer-in-shining-Ralph Lauren."

"Right." She recovered fast enough but there was a hint of distrust in her voice. "Truth or dare though? Isn't that a little--"

"Dangerous?" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Thought I was different. Thought you could see past the vampire to the real me, straight on through to the warm, fuzzy stuffing inside."

"Um...okay, yeah," she said, still looking a little unsure about the whole thing. Too stubborn to say no and admit that she was wrong about him. "You first though."

"Alright, then. Dare."

She was quiet for a moment, probably considering her options, deciding what would be the safest thing she could dare the big, bad Spike to do. "Oh, I know!" Smile gracing her lips, she gave him an excited look. "I dare you to touch your nose with your tongue."

He smiled back. This was going to be easier than he thought. "What, like this?"

Willow blinked, obviously impressed. "Good. That's...good and, ya know, kind of impressive."

Spike waggled his eyebrows then wiggled his tongue in her direction, giving her a bit of a show. Watching the color that spread quickly across her cheeks and down her neck nearly made up for missing his soap.

"Your turn."

She paused then picked, "Truth."

"When was your first shag?"

"Spike!"

"What? It's a legit question, pet."

She blushed again, brighter this time, and he decided he really liked the way it looked on her; the way her skin was all pink and warm with embarrassment. Wondered if she looked the same way in bed, all naked and sweaty and writing in pleasure beneath him...

_Oh_ y_eah, it had bloody well been too long._

_

* * *

  
_

"Dare."

Willow didn't hesitate this time. It was like she knew what she wanted before the game had even started, knew what she wanted to ask him all this time. "Can I..." She reached out toward him, but then seemed to realize what she was doing and stopped abruptly, eyes wide, hand hovering in the air.

"What's that now?" he asked, feigning ignorance. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to ask for, what she wanted to do. Wanted her to do it as well, but more than that, he wanted her to ask for it. Wanted to hear her say the words.

She bit at her lower lip. That plump, luscious lip that was just begging to be nibbled on. "Can I touch...your hair?"

Not quite what he'd been hoping for, but close enough. "Ah-ha," he tutted, teasing her just a bit. "Gotta phrase it as a dare, pet."

There was a glare and a pout, but mind set, she wasn't going to give up that easily. "Fine. I dare you to let me touch your hair."

_There we go then,_ he thought, fighting back a smirk. Didn't want to scare her away. Not yet anyway. Plenty of time for that later, when it was her turn for a dare.

Inclining his head towards her, he gave her silent permission, hoping she wouldn't back out now. He waited a tic before feeling her fingers lightly brushing against his hair, waited another before they became more daring, tangling in his blonde strands with a slight tug.

A half gasp, half sigh escaped her mouth and the sound shot straight through his body, awakening a part of him that had been unused for too long. He couldn't help but return the sentiment with an answering groan. It'd been so long since someone had touched him and her fingers felt so good pulling, rubbing, almost caressing, fluttering against his scalp in a silent rhythm. Electricity like fire sparked through his nerve endings and he hardened even more.

He moaned her name, just once, and then her hand was gone, plucked quickly from his hair and settled firmly back into her own lap.

Spike groaned loudly in frustration.


End file.
